The Predator
by The Crobatman
Summary: A series of oneshots describing the point of view of Batman as he takes down his foes.


Batman: The Predator  
They thought they had the edge.  
A dimly lit room, musty from the cigarettes lit by the men in the center of it. The stone structures around are gothic in nature, matching the catholic church that has been taken by these men.  
I stare down from a vantage point above them all, they have no idea I'm here, observing, planning my tactics.  
These thugs weren't run-of-the mill henchman, they're strong, armed with military-grade weapons. They're not too smart, but apparently the ones their boss trusts to hold their ground.  
But there's always one.  
He's easy to spot, the one constantly checking his weapon's safety and ammunition. The one who never stays in the same place, constantly checking every corner. Never alone, with a fellow thug in sight at all times.  
The weak link.  
He's the superstitious one, the one who has heard the stories and believes every word.  
He's terrified.  
He never sees me, my black armored hand takes him by the neck as I fall from the gargoyle that served as my vantage point. He catches a glimpse of my cowl-covered face and lets out a horrified scream before I pound his face into the stone ground.  
Perfect.  
I grapple back up to my vantage point and hide in the darkness of the scaffolding above them, the scream has drawn the attention of the armed guards.  
Most of them run to the site of their fallen ally, but one is told to stay where he is, and guard the hostages they've taken.  
It just gets easier.  
I land several feet behind him as he holds his rifle to a hostage's head. He's cocky, he's the one with the gun, he's the one who's ready to kill his hostage if anything bad happens to him.  
He's not afraid.  
At least, that's what he thinks.  
That's when I make my move, and silently take his head under my arm, suffocating him to the point where his body goes limp and passes out. The cop taken hostage looks to me in fear. Surprise, surprise.  
"Hide." I tell him and his fellow hostages. They all obey, quickly and quietly leaving their places to find a safe place in the church.  
The other thugs have discovered their fallen comrade and are aware of my presence.  
Good.  
"Here's the plan, we spread out and find this son of a bitch! Got it?"  
Yells the biggest one, he's a tall man, a cigarette on his lip and an AK-47 under his Musclebound arm.  
The rest of them fan out, searching the room, never once looking up.  
Idiots.  
There are five thugs left, soon to be four.  
The leader is up near the large pipe organ, he's the one smart enough to look at the scaffolding above them. Fortunately, it would take thermal goggles to see me in the darkness, and he's not the one wearing them.  
"Where the hell did they go?" Yells another man, observing that their hostages had left their places and another of their comrades was unconscious,  
I only hope they were smart enough to find a good place to hide.  
I crouch as I walk along the scaffolding, seeing an opportunity, I swing to a gargoyle above the leader, who was dumb enough to walk right underneath it.  
I quickly attach one of my grapple cords to the gargoyle and hang from it, upside down, swiftly sliding down the steel cord and grabbing the large man, wrapping him in my cape and pulling us back up to the gargoyle.  
My grip on my prey's neck loosens as I tie the cord to his foot, dropping him to hang from the gargoyle. He lets out one deep scream before the cord goes taut and constricts around his ankle.  
Knowing that his men would see me if I stayed there I quickly glide to a window, where I jump to the floor. Three men run over to their leader, staring up, while behind them I move to hide in the darkness of the confessional.  
When they managed to cut their unconscious leader down, they fanned out again. One of them thought they might hide from me in the confessional. His shock and fear when he saw my form in the confessional was intense. I attacked.  
Hearing the thud of their friend on the floor, the last two didn't even come to the aid, one of them proclaiming "Screw this man! You're on your own!"  
Excellent.  
The coward runs to the door, and attempts to open it, imagine his last thought when he felt the electric shock of a sonic batarang in the back.  
One more.  
I needed this one to see me. To know I was there, only to increase his fear.  
So I found him, and landed a foot in front of him, he raised his weapon and attempted to fire it, and it would have, were there not an explosive batarang in the barrel.  
I had him against the wall, staring into my eyes in horror as I spoke.  
"Who do you work for?" I interrogate, but to my surprise, he does nothing but smile.  
"You ain't takin' me back to Blackgate, Bats."  
"Answer me." I growl.  
That's when he uses his tongue to pull a tooth from his top jaw, in a screech of pain, he bites it, and foams at the mouth.  
He's useless to me now, I threw him on the ground and watched the cyanide take its course...  
Then he started laughing, I turned and saw his skin turning pale and a sick grin forming on his face as he died.  
I walked out of the window of the church, the cops thanked me, holding their captor's weapons. I silently left.  
I am the hunter, the predator, the silent attacker.  
I am the Batman.


End file.
